Aerie Networks is in negotiations to buy half the
equipment that once powered Metricom's Ricochet wireless Internet service
and could finalize plans by next week, according to an attorney for the
bankrupt Metricom.

That represents about half the network that Metricom built to deliver high-speed wireless Internet service before it filed for bankruptcy, according
to Sheneman. The other half of the network, spread out in about a dozen
other states, will be abandoned if a buyer doesn't appear, she said.

With the equipment, Aerie could possibly relaunch the much loved, but
expensive, wireless Internet service in those six states. But additional
details of the deal with Aerie Networks--including whether it bought the
radio spectrum Metricom used to operate the network--were not released
during the court hearing. Neither Metricom nor Aerie Networks were
commenting Friday.

Aerie Networks is in the middle of building what its Web site claims
is "the largest-capacity, lowest-cost broadband netowrk ever conceived." It
has plans to extend Internet service to 194 cities in the United States,
according to the Web site.

Metricom provided a wireless Internet service called Ricochet to consumers
and businesses, allowing users of a laptop computer or other wireless
device to connect to a wireless network in several major cities. The
network was built in 44 cities, but only launched in 14 of them. Beset by
technological glitches and slow adoption rates, Metricom was forced into
bankruptcy this summer amid a larger downturn in the fortunes of
telecommunications companies large and small.

Aerie would create a new division that would act as the network's owner,
called Ricochet Holding Company, according to the attorney.

Previous court filings indicated that Metricom's assets
could be sold for as little as $30 million. Court records show the company
is $1 billion in debt.

Metricom garnered 51,000 customers in 14 U.S. cities. The network was turned off earlier this month as
part of the company's bankruptcy proceedings.

Ricochet's 51,000 subscribers, who paid as much as $80 a month for service
after buying a modem for $300, are still the service's biggest fans. They
have been sending companies like Wireless Web Connect, which resold the
Ricochet service, thousands of e-mails demanding the service be turned on
again.

"We might have gotten our Ricochet back," said DeeDee McGann, a San Diego, Calif.,
resident, Ricochet user and investor. She often used the wireless service
to communicate with her husband, who is in the military and often in areas
where the regular Internet isn't available.